The Sulphur Lady Tors’ relentless defensive pressure left its mark on the Barbe Lady Bucs in 41-15 rout on Friday in Sulphur in District 3-5A action.
The win put the Lady Tors in a tie with LaGrange for second place in District 3-5A with two district games remaining for both teams.
“We still control our own destiny,” Lady Tor head coach Helen Lefevre said. “We told our kids every game now starting with tonight is a playoff game.
“If we want to make the playoffs we have to win out. We talked about coming out with intensity and we thought that we played hard.”
The Lady Tors next game will be on Tuesday when they host Acadiana.
The Lady Bucs pulled within one-point, 6-5, after a pair of free throws by Kiara Duncan with 1:04 left in the first quarter but that would be as close as they would get the rest of the game.
For the next 15 and a half minutes the Lady Tors shutout Barbe while going on a 22-0 run late into the third quarter. Barbe committed 13 of their 19 turnovers during that time.
“Defensively again, Coach Monceaux and Coach Elder were switching up the defense pretty much every trip down the floor,” Lady Tor head coach Helen Lefevre said. “It kept them off balance.
“We played Candace Booker in a diamond-and-one today. We did not show that at all the first time we played them. That gave them some problems. Everything revolves around her. Celola was able to keep the ball out of her hands enough to get them out of sync on offense.”
Senior forward Reagan Royer scored 18 points in the first Sulphur/Barbe game but was limited in Friday’s contest after a run-in with the flu. But even with limited time, she gave the Lady Tors a spark in the second quarter scoring six of the teams eight points. No Lady Tor scored in double figures but they were able to spread the ball around with five players scoring five or more points. Kaitlin Desselle led the way with nine points. Royer and Callie Wyatt each finished with six points, Celola Mayo had seven and Hannah Cupit finished with five points.
“We were executing our offenses this time,” Lefevre said. “We were more prepare for the 1-2-2 this time.
“We got a lot of kids in and that is good. The way they were running that zone different people are going to get looks at different times.”
Desselle scored all nine of her points in the second half including six in the third quarter.
Barbe ended their drought with a free throw by Catherine Moore with 1:38 left in the third quarter but did not get their first field goal since early in the second quarter until Devaney Clayton hit a shot in the lane 30 seconds later.
Baylie Lee led Barbe with six points.
Sulphur, La. —
